ABSTRACT

This chapter aims to review some success stories that have made a dramatic impact on our world. Low-stress slicing methods such as the use of thin wires and loose ceramic abrasive to slowly erode through the silicon with a minimum of damage were developed. A charge-coupled device (CCD) consists of an array of tiny photoactive ceramic capacitors mounted on a thin layer of oxide ceramic on top of a p-doped silicon semiconductor. The development of the integrated circuit (IC), the flash drive, and the CCD were major accomplishments, but integrating these into new devices was also a difficult challenge that required material development, design innovation, and interdisciplinary engineering. By the mid-1970s, microprocessor IC development had reached the stage that all the requirements for a digital watch could be integrated into a single IC chip. The technology drivers for the catalytic converter were completely different than those for the IC.